


Recognition

by magoberry



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 15:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21078998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magoberry/pseuds/magoberry
Summary: Chloe has a lot on her mind, when she gets paired up with Alya for a science project.





	Recognition

**Author's Note:**

> oh boy, this originally started as a very short one shot that was supposed to be about Chloe and Chat Noir and it somehow morphed into a ramble about Chloe and Alya? eh, whatever, i had fun writing it, i hope you have fun reading it!
> 
> i wrote it all in one session and didnt reread or beta it so its gonna be messy oh well LETS GOOOOO

Another day in Paris, another akuma attack handled by Ladybug.

Chloe wasn’t jealous that she had called upon Rena Rouge to help instead of Queen Bee. No, she remembered Ladybug’s words about how dangerous it was to call on her. Besides, jealousy was a color nobody wore well, and Chloe wouldn’t be caught dead in it. The color she wore instead was that of melancholy.

She wasn’t sure why, but that feeling would get stronger every time she watched Ladybug and Chat Noir saved the day. She sighed and turned off the skylight. It was always worth a shot.

A few days go by, with nothing eventful happening. No akuma attacks, no drama.

Until the class was assigned to a partner project. Rather than everyone picking their own partner, Miss Bustier paired everyone up herself.

“It’s a simple project. We’ll be dropping eggs from a certain height, and your job is to make a structure that will prevent the egg from breaking,” Miss Bustier explained. “Please listen carefully for your partners.”

“Oh this is utterly ridiculous, why can’t we pick our own partners?” Chloe said. Despite past conflicts, the rest of the class silently agreed.

“I trust you all would work well with the partners you would choose, but I thought it would be best to simply mix things up for once,” Miss Bustier replied. “Now, for the groups.”

“Marinette, you’ll be paired with Juleka.” Marinette and Juleka glanced and smiled at each other.

“Max, you’ll be with Mylene.” The two nodded at each other.

“Sabrina, you’ll be with Kim.” Sabrina went wide-eyed. She wouldn’t be working with Chloe..? Chloe tensed up at the realization her best friend wouldn’t be with her.

“Adrien, you’ll be with Rose.” Adrien could hear Rose giggle at the back of the class.

Miss Bustier continued to list the names off, Chloe getting increasingly anxious. At least she wouldn’t be with Marinette. Not being with Sabrina or Adrien was disappointing as well, but there were still others in the class she wouldn’t hate working with. Nathaniel’s a creative guy, he would be a good partner for this. Nino is far from ideal, but she could work with his laid back attitude. Alix wo-

“Last but not least, Chloe.” Oh crap. She was absolutely not paying attention. Who was left aside from her?

“You’ll be paired with Alya.”

Unacceptable.

Utterly.

Unacceptable.

Chloe was about to protest before Alya herself interjected. “Miss Bustier, have a heart. How am I supposed to work with someone who’s going to make me do all the work? Can’t I work with Kim, so Sabrina can work with Chloe as usual?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree. I just work better with Sabrina,” Chloe harrumphed.

“Now girls, the point of the project is not only to test creativity and knowledge, but to work with someone who’s work ethic may clash with yours. You’re going to have to work with people different than you eventually, so it’s best to learn how to adapt to that early on,” Miss Bustier said.

The two groaned, and slumped into their seats. There was no way to get out of this.

“You all have one week to put something together, we’ll be testing your projects next Friday.”

And that week would be absolute hell. Chloe would dodge all of Alya’s texts and inquiries as to when they would meet up. That girl was hell bent on getting Chloe to do her half of the work.

Alya would then begin venting to Nino. All of her frustrations, how Chloe’s a lazy good for nothing, that she shouldn’t have to do her half of the project, that Miss Bustier was doing this just to punish her for focusing more on the Ladyblog than classwork-

“Alya,” Nino held her hand gently. “Come sit down with me.” She just noticed she had been just pacing back and forth, and so she sat next to him. He moved his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “Just take a deep breath. Chloe can be a handful, but you’re an armful,” Nino squeezed her tight.

Alya continued to pout, but this got a slight giggle out of her.

“You’re a smart cookie, babe. Even without a partner, you’d get the highest grade in the class,” Nino continued. “And you know what you have that Chloe doesn’t?”

“What would that be?”

Nino wrapped his other arm around her shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek. “An awesome boyfriend who will help you as much as he can.”

Alya laughed and tapped his nose. “You are such a dork.”

-

Hawkmoth growled at the sappy scene playing out before him. “This is an outrage! My poor akuma no longer has anywhere to go.” Moments earlier he had sensed Alya’s frustrations and sent for her to be akumatized. Nino’s meddling completely ruined the plan.

The akuma fluttered out of the room and back into the city. Searching desperately for a new source of anger, of frustration, of something. Hawkmoth was growing impatient, almost about to call it quits, until he felt something. It was faint, but he knew it would work.

The akuma landed, and Hawkmoth spoke.

“Hello, Stupefier.”

-

It wasn’t long before Ladybug was on the scene, and it wasn’t long after that for her to quickly realize she would need some extra hands. Chat stayed behind long enough for her to dip out and retrieve an extra Miraculous or two. After a quick visit to Master Fu, Ladybug popped in on Alya and Nino.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, seeing the two wrapped up in each others arms.

Startled, Alya sat up straight and released her grip on Nino. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to show affection towards him in front of Ladybug. She just didn’t want her to think that they were unprofessional, is all. “Not at all, Ladybug.”

Ladybug chuckled under her breath, and then extended her arm. “Alya Cesaire, here is the Miraculous of the fox… I need your help.”

Moments later, Rena Rouge was on the scene. She did feel a little bad Nino wouldn’t be able to join them, but Ladybug does know best.

“I’m tired of everyone treating me like the dumb one! Now everyone else will know how I feel!” Stupefier shouted. Using a ray gun shaped like a giant pencil, everyone who was struck with a beam would become slow-witted dunces.

“Thanks for joining us, ladies,” Chat Noir bounced to Ladybug and Rena Rouge’s side. “Now, what’s today’s big plan?”

“First, we have to find where the akuma is hiding. After that, Rena will use Mirage to distract him, I’ll tie him down with my yoyo, and Chat will use Cataclysm to free the akuma. Got it?” Ladybug said. The other two nodded.

It was a simple, but flawless plan. Almost flawless. What Ladybug didn’t account for was her getting struck by Stupefier’s ray herself before they had even moved. Her face went blank, and the only thing she could think to say was a long, dragged out “duuuuuuuuuh.”

“My lady, you have got to be kidding,” Chat said. He heard Stupefier fire the gun again, and leaped out of the way. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“If he’s just making people stupid, I don’t think you have much to worry about if you get hit, Chat,” Rena teased.

“So harsh,” Chat feigned offense. He went back to where Ladybug was now stumbling around, and picked her up, taking her off the high building in fear of her getting hurt.

The two kept trying to get closer to Stupefier, but to no avail. Rena looked around for some sort of clue to help them, when she saw it. Chloe’s Queen Bee signal. She sighed, and looked to Chat.

“Chat… do you have access to the Miraculous?” Rena asked. Chat looked at the signal and got it immediately.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked back. Rena nodded. They both knew they would need help, and Chat didn’t know Carapace’s true identity. Rena could deliver the Miraculous herself if she had access to it, but she didn’t, and asking could out both of them if things went south.

“I’ll keep his attention. You go get her,” Rena affirmed.

And with that, Chat bounced off. It didn’t take him long to recover the Bee Miraculous and land on Chloe’s roof.

“Chloe Bourgeois-”

“Yes, I accept, thank you Chat Noir, took you long enough,” Chloe moved for the Miraculous before Chat pulled it away, giving her a look. “Oh, right. Please.”

“Glad to see you’ve learned since last time,” Chat handed her the hair clip.

As she put the clip in her hair, and Pollen appeared before her, Chloe felt a twang of pain. She hesitated before looking at Chat Noir. “I’ve been thinking.”

“That’s never a good thing.”

“Shush!” Chloe snapped. Her expression softened seconds later, “I know it’s dangerous to use me as Queen Bee. What if there was someone else who could use the Bee Miraculous?”

“What are you talking about?” Chat tensed up at the suggestion. He wasn’t totally opposed to the idea, but he also didn’t expect Chloe of all people to suggest it.

“I know someone who would be perfect. He’s smart and wouldn’t put anything at risk, plus he’s really active and wouldn’t argue at all,” Chloe said. “Do you know Adrien Agreste?”

If Chat were drinking, he would’ve spat out his drink.

“The model? That lame brain?” he tried to fake disinterest in order to cover his panic.

“Hey, he’s no lame brain! He’d be a much better hero than me!” she took the hair clip off and tried to hand it back to Chat Noir. “When we were younger, we played superheroes all the time. I got my chance to be a real hero, and I blew it. Adrien won’t.”

“That’s nice of you to suggest your friend, but please reconsider. You’ve come a long way from when I first saw you. You’re strong, you’re kind, and you don’t take nonsense from anybody.” As he said this, he took the Miraculous from Chloe’s hand and placed it back into her hair. “I can’t imagine anybody else as Queen Bee.”

Chloe smiled softly and nodded. “Then we better get in there. Ladybug can’t do all the work herself!”

“Eh...about that…”

Rena Rouge was still dodging shots left and right from Stupifier, when Chat Noir returned with Queen Bee.

“Took you guys long enough. Did you stop and get coffee before coming to help?” Rena Rouge teased the two.

“We were just having an emotional journey, no big deal,” Chat Noir taunted back.

“Yeah, yeah, lets just teach this guy a lesson already,” Queen Bee said. She observed Stupifier, and the area around the group to see if there was anything of use. She saw Ladybug on the ground, stumbling over a garbage can, and couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. It wasn’t that funny, but because it was Ladybug, she couldn’t help but find it a bit charming. It was then that she saw Sabrina helping her up. “I’ll be right back!”

“Q-Queen Bee!” Sabrina’s eyes lit up when she appeared in front of her. “It’s so good to see you back in action!”

Queen Bee smirked. Of course Sabrina knew it was Chloe behind the mask, but Queen Bee appreciated her playing along. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Sabrina smiled at her best friend, before remembering what she had to say. “Oh! I need to tell you. Stupifier is Kim! It’s all my fault he got akumatized, I was trying to explain my idea for the project and he wasn’t understanding… I teased him for being a bit dense, but I didn’t mean any harm by it, I swear!”

“Don’t worry, Sabrina. You’ll get your chance to tell him later,” Queen Bee assured her. “Did you happen to see where the Akuma landed?”

“I think it was in his pencil. The one he’s using as a ray gun.”

“I see… I’ll let the others know,” Queen nodded, then looked at Ladybug, who was stumbling around. “Ladybug, can you use your Lucky Charm?”

Ladybug shrugged. “What’s a Lucky Charm?”

It didn’t matter that she didn’t mean to use it- her ability activated, and out came a toy truck. She plopped down on the ground and immediately started playing with it, as if she were a child.

“Make sure she stays put, okay?”

“Understood! Anything for you, Queen Bee!”

And with that, Queen Bee rejoined the other two. “The akuma’s in the pencil!”

From there, the three followed the plan that Ladybug had laid out earlier. Rena performed Mirage to distract Stupifier, who didn’t notice Queen Bee sneak up on him. She used Venom to stun him, which caused him to drop his ray gun. Chat Noir caught it, brought it down to Ladybug’s level, and used Cataclysm to release the Akuma.

“Oohh, pretty butterfly~” Ladybug giggled. Chat almost wished she could stay that way. Almost.

“You know, you can catch it with that yoyo of yours,” he said.

Ladybug gasped, and immediately threw her yoyo at it. She caught it and reeled it back in, opening the yoyo to watch a pure white butterfly fly away. She looked back at the toy truck and, as if it were second nature to her, tossed it into the air, shouting “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The ladybugs went through Paris, returning everyone who had been affected by Stupefier back to normal.

“What happened?” Ladybug asked.

“It’s best you don’t know,” Chat replied.

Rena Rouge and Queen Bee joined the two on the ground, as Kim came to again. Sabrina ran over to him, helping him up.

“Kim, I’m sorry I teased you about not understanding. I was just trying to lighten the mood,” Sabrina explained.

“Aw, its okay. How about you make it up to me with macaroons, and going a little easier on the fancy words?” Kim smiled.

The two laughed. They thanked the heroes, and went on their way to the Dupain-Cheng bakery for some study macaroons.

As they watched the two walk off, everybody’s Miraculous went off at once. They all shared a brofist, saying “pound it!” before hopping away. Rena Rouge went with Ladybug, and Queen Bee left with Chat Noir.

“Thanks for calling on me, Ladybug,” Alya said as she handed over the Fox Miraculous. “If you need me again, you know where to find me.”

Ladybug nodded. “I’ll take you up on that when I need you.”

Chloe handed the Bee Miraculous back to Chat Noir. “Will you at least keep Adrien in mind for another Miraculous?”

“Maybe, but Ladybug’s usually the one who picks the fresh meat,” Chat joked. “And again, don’t worry about that stuff. We’re glad to have you when we need you.”

Later that day, Alya finally received a text from Chloe.

Chloe: are u free to meet up today  
Alya: Are you gracing me with your presence?  
Chloe: maybee . thought ud need my help for this dum project

Alya sighed in relief. Maybe seeing what happened with Kim and Sabrina knocked some sense into her? Who knows. Whatever the reason, she was glad Chloe had come around.

-

The time had come to test out the projects. Aside from Nathaniel and Alix’s project, which focused more on design than on function, and Ivan and Nino’s, which would have worked if they had remembered to add padding to the inside, everyone’s inventions were protecting the egg from cracking.

Alya and Chloe were finally up, bringing their project up to the top of the staircase.

“You know Chloe, you weren’t such a pain to work with after all,” Alya said.

“Right back at you. Maybe I’ll consider you again if Sabrina and Adrien are unavailable,” Chloe said. Alya knew that was as good as it would get from her, and smirked.

Alya placed the egg inside of their project and they both held it out, dropping the box-like contraption they came up with. After a loud THUNK indicated that it hit the ground, they both winced. Miss Bustier took a quick look, and then looked up at the girls.

Their egg had a very small, very tiny crack, but there was no damage otherwise.


End file.
